But what makes this battle royale stand out from the rest? Chickens, for one thing. The multiplayer game hit PC in the Summer of last year, and quickly racked up an impressive audience, before moving to console with its open beta. Youngling battle royale fans with a case of Fortnite fatigue need not look any further than Hi-Rez's latest free-to-play title Realm Royale. From then on you can buy or rent your chosen champions as you go, or pay for the full package and get access to every one that’s been released, and every one that ever will be. You get five permanent gods for free when you start, and five more will cycle into the roster on a weekly basis. The free-to-play model is pretty damn pleasant, too. With a current line-up of 93 playable hero deities covering ranged and melee archetypes (with separate magical and physical combat types), spread over five distinct classes, there’s a huge amount of tactical team play to get stuck into.

Not that this is just about instinctive twitch play. You’ll earn gold and experience with which to level and enhance your character’s power and abilities, but – much like in something like Destiny – the RPG numbers mean nothing if your action skills and combat strategy aren’t up to standard. Part third-person action game, part competitive shooter, part RPG, part co-operative PvP team game, Smite takes the loose spirit of the MOBA and turns the genre in an entirely more immediate direction. It’s an unpredictable joy every time.ĭownload Fortnite Battle Royale now on PSN Brawlhalla

As the map boundaries close in, player numbers dwindle, and base structures become ever more elaborate, a different kind of tension ramps, as the game’s demands dynamically evolve. Parachuting into a huge, open-world island map – initially completely unarmed and entirely devoid of supplies – the opening minutes of any match are a giddy, tense scramble as you attempt to glide to a spot free of competition (but hopefully bountiful of resources), search for a weapon, and quickly smash up the environment in a bid to accrue a few of the building resources you’ll need as things heat up.

Taking Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds’ basis of a vast, 100 player, last-man-standing shooter as its starting point, and then evolving it with natty, on-the-fly, tactical construction, Battle Royale is an instantly accessible hoot with serious long-term depth.

Fortnite Battle Royale continues to be a great free-to-play offering.

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